In 1928, in what could be termed its fifth and final move, Polk Street United Methodist Church dedicated its current building in a formal ceremony on a cold February morning.

The new church, designed by a Tennessee architect, took more than two years to build.

Its intricate and ornate spires are as distinctive now as they were 85 years ago. The church carried a note of $500,000 for the cost — a huge amount in that day.

The next year came the Great Depression.

“The church held a note it literally could not pay because of the Depression,” said the Rev. Dr. Burt Palmer, PSUMC’s senior pastor. “The church chose not to default, not to renegotiate. The church said, ‘No, we owe the money,’ and it took over 30 years to pay for that building, but they did it.”

Responding to challenges, both within the church and in Amarillo, Palmer said, has been the legacy of Amarillo’s oldest church, which celebrates its 125th anniversary Sunday in worship services and with a reception.

“Whatever the need was,” said the Rev. Dixie Robertson, associate pastor, “the people have responded.”

It started with eight people, who met on Nov. 23, 1888, in a frame building that also served as the Potter County Courthouse. It was a large outpouring — four percent of Amarillo’s population of 200.

Methodist circuit rider Isaac Mills had come on horse and buggy from Weatherford with a directive to plant churches at four fresh new outposts along the line of the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad.

The meeting also became a church service, and no church service is complete without an offering.

Let it be known that passing the plate for foreign missions that day netted $1.81.

One of those eight in attendance was G.A.F. Parker, a wealthy man in the lumber business. He donated material and helped pay for the cost that got the church out of the courthouse the next year and into its first home, named Parker’s Chapel, at 701 S. Jackson St.

Parker’s Chapel was the church’s first official name and became the meeting place of other early loosely organized denominations as well — that is, subject to Parker’s whims.

“He was apparently a pretty demanding person,” said Dr. Garry Nall, church historian and retired West Texas A&M professor. “Some people thought at that time the first two initials in his name stood for God Almighty. He was a character.”

The Rev. J.A. Whitehurst helped put Polk Street in the church’s name when he bought 25 lots on Polk Street for $500 in 1899 and deeded the land to the church at 802 Polk.

The first of three church buildings on Amarillo’s landmark street opened in 1902 with the current one at 1401 Polk finished just prior to the Great Depression.

“The legacy of this church is that it has always wanted to make a tangible difference in the lives of not only its people, but those we come in contact with,” said Palmer, senior pastor for the last 2½ years.

He noted the church’s outreach and care during the 1919 flu epidemic, food drives during the Depression and Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and turning the basement into a meeting area for Amarillo Air Base personnel during World War II.

PSUMC has helped start seven different Methodist churches, Palmer said. Land was purchased to help start Trinity Methodist Church, and 118 members of the St. Paul’s Sunday School class helped form what is now St. Paul’s Methodist Church.

Tyler Street Resource Center was an outgrowth of PSUMC, and Court Appointed Special Advocates, volunteers who aid in the development of abused and neglected children, was at one time housed in the church’s parsonage.

“The only way you can meet the challenges of today and have the courage to be what God is calling a church to be today is to pause and look back and see the struggles we have had and put that in context,” Palmer said.

“History teaches us about God’s faithfulness in the context of church,” he said, “and what we can do if we give our lives in faith.”

The challenge for PSUMC, as with most churches, is to stay relevant during a time when a growing part of the culture eschews organized religion. That challenge is particularly keen for downtown churches, which face city populations that grow to outlying edges where newer churches have sprung.

The 32,000-square-foot Christian Life Center addition of PSUMC opened in October 2012. It’s highlighted by the Great Hall, a coffee house and gathering place, and the former social hall that’s been transformed into an expanded child development center.

“People seek out what meets their hunger in faith, and their desire to make a difference in the world,” Palmer said.

He compares a downtown church like Polk Street to a favorite restaurant that might be inconvenient to reach, but is worth the drive because of the food and service.

“In simple terms, we need to make it worth the drive by speaking into the lives of people,” he said. “Our history has been one with a vibrant traditional worship, and people come not to be an observer, but they come invited to be involved with something bigger than themselves, something that God is doing in people’s lives. That’s what ties our history to our present.”

Fast facts

■ A pearl white door knob from the Potter County courthouse, where the first church meeting was held in 1888, rests behind a glass encasing on the second floor of the church.

■ Beginning with founding pastor Isaac Mills in 1888, there have been 35 pastors. The longest tenure was 15 years by Jim Garrett, who served from 1989 to 2004.

■ The longest current membership is thought to belong to Martha Davidson, who joined the church on March 26, 1939.

■ There have been eight buildings/additions with the last one, the Christian Life Center, added in 2012.

■ The book, “Vengeance is Mine: The Scandalous Love Triangle That Triggered the Boyce-Sneed Feud” details two murders of passion about 1920, one of which was in the open next to the church.

Anniversary services

The 125th anniversary will be recognized in services at 8:30 a.m. and 10:55 a.m. Sunday, with a reception from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.